Bitcoin ETF push: Grayscale asks Americans to lobby for approval
The US, unlike Canada, has yet to approve a pure Bitcoin ETF
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One Bitcoin exchange-traded fund hopeful is appealing to the power of the people to cross the finish line with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust wants to convert to an ETF, which would make it the first pure Bitcoin ETF to win approval and CEO Michael Sonnenshein is hoping, to see strength in numbers.
He and his team launched an "advocacy" push, including a step-by-step guide on how to submit comments to the SEC on why the fund should be given the thumbs-up.
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"This campaign aims to educate and inspire the investment community to take action and make their voices heard on this historic decision," Sonnenshein said in a statement.
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It’s not just the hype — earlier this month, Grayscale’s global head of ETFs, David LaValle, said the firm's size and scope qualifies them to be the first approved ETF.
"Everyone else has concepts at this point, we actually have a product in market, we have over 600,000 investors in our flagship product the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and so it absolutely does matter, and we certainly do want to be first," LaValle told FOX Business. "We have hundreds of thousands of investors who have said they desire this ETF, and we are certainly going to advocate on their behalf," he added.
The comments period ends July 6, 2022.
For investors who already own the current fund, GBTC, if approved, these changes would evolve.
To date, the SEC under Chairman Gary Gensler has rejected all Bitcoin ETF applications, in most cases, citing the inability by firms to guarantee investor protections.
He explained the risk to investors in a recent FOX Business interview.
"Bitcoin futures, trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange … it has had a regulated market since 2017 by our sibling agency the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an agency I was once proud to chair, so you should know I think really well of the CFTC. So, that's part of that framework, we don't have that framework for the underlying cash market at this time," Gensler said.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CME | CME GROUP INC. | 225.28 | +1.86 | +0.83% |
Instead, the commission has greenlit Bitcoin Futures ETFs and ETFs that offer exposure to Bitcoin and crypto-related companies, including ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, WisdomTree’s Enhanced Commodity Strategy Fund and the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BITO | PROSHARES BITCOIN STRATEGY ETF - USD DIS | 24.66 | +1.08 | +4.58% |
| GCC | WISDOMTREE TRUST ENHANCED COMMODITY STRATEGY | 18.42 | -0.03 | -0.16% |
| BITQ | BITWISE CRYPTO INDUSTRY INNOVATORS ETF - USD DIS | 19.17 | +0.52 | +2.79% |
Most recently, Fidelity became the latest company to get the heave-ho from the SEC for its Bitcoin ETF application. At the time, in a statement to FOX Business Fidelity said:
"While we are disappointed by the outcome of the SEC’s deliberations resulting in today’s disapproval order, we reaffirm our belief in market readiness for a physical bitcoin exchange traded product and look forward to continued constructive dialogue with the SEC.
"Fidelity’s comprehensive research on bitcoin trading in global spot and futures markets shows the maturation of these markets and the price discovery leadership of the regulated CME Bitcoin futures market, which satisfies the SEC’s standards for listing approval as applied to many existing spot-backed exchange products currently available for trading, including gold, silver, platinum, palladium and copper," the firm said.